Accidental or Intentional
Creating the Organizational Culture You Want
By Libby Wagner, Founder and President
when just about everyone sets out to have great places to
Our recent office relocation included the
movement of many boxes of books. It
seems like we moved an acre of books,
and at least half of this acre is devoted to
leadership, organizational development,
sales, performance management. Suffice
it to say that it’s quite the library, and
for the most part, I’ve read them all,
sometimes more than once.
work that meet the goals and the mission, attract great
people to work, and loyal customers to do business?
When we have an accidental culture, rather than an
intentional culture, most likely it’s because our organizational
behaviors are not matching up with our intentions.
How to create more intention around your
culture:
All this to say that there’s plenty that’s been said about
leading teams and groups, and plenty other things have been
said about organizational culture, organizational environments
and teams. But some things bear repeating, especially when
the repetition means that you might actually make a change
in something that’s important to you.
1. Revisit or clarify your organizational values.
Most organizations or teams have clearly identified
their values — the principles they agree to live by in
their work and business. Sometimes these are
corporate-wide, and other times they might be
team-specific, like a Team Agreement. If you don’t
have these articulated, that’s the first step. Clearly
What are the characteristics of your organizational culture?
And perhaps more important, is the culture of your team or
organization the one that you want, the one that you intend?
Many organizations’ cultures are not the ones they intend,
but they are the ones they’ve got! How does this happen
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identify 5-7 key values that are important to you in
your business to be the kind of place you want to
be that does the kind of work you do. Then — and
this is the really important part — you need to
define them behaviorally. Most organizations have
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things like “communicate honestly” or “respect
and informally, as suggested above. Additionally, I’d
each other,” but because they don’t define them
add that when appropriate, it’s important to
behaviorally, everyone does his or her best (or
honor and recognize those who are
Libby helps companies revolutionize
their
not) to fulfill this as they define it. There’s no
demonstrating the values as you intend. Three
As the leader, you’ve got to carry the flag.
above-and-beyond performance and career
Articulating your values, and even defining them
milestones. For example, if one of our values is
behaviorally, is no guarantee that you will begin
flexibility and resiliency, that in your organization
to shape or re-shape your culture according to
we all roll up our sleeves and help one another
your intentions if no one is committed to
on projects or proposals or initiatives that are
carrying them out. Lead from the front. Your
priority, and someone regularly demonstrates her
values should not only be visible, and some
ability to assist others and perform her own job
organizations are good at this — you see posters
tasks, that’s a good way to reinforce the values
or plaques or wallet cards — but you have to
and culture you want. Notice it and recognize it
actually use them. Many teams I work with begin
with high specificity.
culture and transform in record time by
collective definition, so you get what you get!
important times for recognizing (i.e. in a public
focusing energy to achieve astonishing
forum, using your own special recognition
resultsand
— creating
that letter of thanks and recognition,
2. Operationalize your values
practice commitment cultures
practices, formal
can endure any economic environment.
them consciously and purposefully.
etc.) could include consistent performance,
their meetings with their Team Agreements or
Guiding Principles almost like we used to say the
There’s really no reason your culture can’t be exactly the
Pledge of Allegiance in grade school. In other
one that gives you the highest levels of productivity, trust,
words, you check in on the promise you made to
morale, profits, customer delight and employee
each other and see where your successes are
retention. Just intend it, and take disciplined action toward
and where you’ve got room to grow or pick up
it!
the slack. You’ve also got to weave the language
of your values into your performance evaluations
(formal) and in the language you use when you
make decisions and collaborate (informal).
3. Reward and recognize one another for
upholding your agreements or values.
It is true that what gets done is what gets
measured, so those things we want to happen
with some regularity and consistency in our
organizations need to be noted in some way.
Generally, I advise clients to do this both formally
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